Every year, Rolling Meadows holds a jazz competition in which many jazz bands across the Midwest travel to compete at. High schools like Lake Zurich, Elk Grove, Prospect and many more competed this year. The competition allows us to show our dedication and appreciation for music through our talented music division. With new students coming in every year, we see a variety of performances and musicianship. This year, on February 25th, the 38th annual Jazz in the Meadows concert took place. It also marked the last Jazz in the Meadows concert for Mr. Buti, the band director for Rolling Meadows. Our guests this year were the amazingly talented Navy Band Great Lakes Side Boys and for the finale, we had the jazz music group, Yellowjackets, give an outstanding performance. 

   This year, many bands gave amazing performances. The outstanding solos from this year were Ben Langionis from Shawano HS, Micah Lind from Lakes Community HS, Matt Hamilton from Buffalo Grove HS, Armando Celeya from John Hersey HS, Daniel Minkov and Nathaniel Stall from Lake Zurich HS, and Lindsey Bradford from Morton JHS. Our first place winners from each class would be Old Quarry Middle School, Beloit Memorial HS 1 and 2, Cary Grove HS, Shawano HS, Lakes Community HS, and John Hersey HS. The grand champion of Jazz in the Meadows was the Beloit Memorial High School directed by Chris Behrens.  

   Jazz in the meadows is the music programs largest fundraiser, helping the band, choir, orchestra, and colorguard. Every student in these programs helped out by volunteering their time to lead bands to their home room, help out with registration, work with the photographers and more. This competition also relies heavily on the help of parents. The RMHS music boosters graciously gave up their time to help do various tasks around the school. As we closed off this year’s concert, we want to thank our band director, Mr. Buti for his years of service and dedication to the music department. We’re honored to have had him teach our students to be the best musicians they could be.